[01/01] Broken Vow
Summary
To all the girls they loved before.
Disclaimer
The mastermind behind this plot derives no material profit from it. While several people, places, and events exist in reality, everything that follows should be digested with a healthy dose of suspicion.
Warning/Rating
I cannot write bromance or erotica to save my life.
Words 1004
Broken Vow
Sara froze in horror as their eyes met.
She had seen him enter the cafe some ten minutes ago, accompanied by an attractive girl she could only assume was his new girlfriend. In an instant, Sara had raised the menu to cover herself. Meeting him again like this only weeks after their relationship had ended was not her ideal closure. Meeting him again like this - he obvious having moved on and she drinking coffee alone while working on a script she was planning for a winter drama - it didn’t seem fair.
More importantly, she had done nothing wrong. It was he who had gone back on his word, he who had cheated. She had been happily minding her own affairs, thinking that nothing was wrong and floating on her pathetic cloud nine when all of a sudden the rug had been pulled under her. Someone had told someone who had told her that he had been sighted with a young model from yet another glossy rag.
But Kazu had always struck her as someone who had a genuine fear of commitment so she should have known they would part ways badly.
Sara had been successful at keeping herself hidden behind her mountain of work when one of the waitresses broke a glass that promptly distracted her. She had instinctively looked up from typing the third version of a particularly difficult sentence when he glanced up at the exact same moment. Their eyes met. Sara frowned irritably and looked away, trying to get a move on with her work. The male protagonist in her script said, I don’t want this to be a fucking movie.
I don’t want this to be a fucking movie!!! Sara took her anger out on her unfortunate keyboard. So let’s talk this over calmly - just the two of us.
She buried her face in her hands, confused if she was writing a drama script or the story of her life.
After Kazu had confirmed that he had, in fact, been seeing someone else on the side, Sara instantly cut all ties with him and armed her playlist with a battalion of breakup songs. What the point of listening to verbalized heartache was Sara wasn’t too sure, although it seemed oddly comforting to have incomprehensible Western wail-fests in the background while she dug into her tubs of mint chocolate ice cream. The idea for her new project had come after she had heard the song It’s All Coming Back to Me Now and she was halfway through her fourth bottle of beer. Back then she couldn’t understand all of the lyrics, but Celine Dion had seemed so angry she felt compelled to look up the meaning of the words when she was finally sober.
And so she now had a new story for the winter season. The station would be pleased. She had no friends, no boyfriend and technically no money, but she had an ouchy, icy breakup story that was great for the winter chill. She was determined to drag TV viewers down with her in her downward-spiraling pit of despair.
Kazu’s pretty companion walked past her on the way to the toilet. She looked like a human kokeshi doll with her elegant bob, pale skin and large eyes, and all at once the shame at having been dumped for someone lovelier hit Sara like a train out of control. Still, Human Kokeshi didn’t seem to know her date’s ex-girlfriend was there in the same café. Vaguely, Sara contemplated making a scene - a plan that was abandoned quickly. Angry though she was at Kazu, she wasn’t so harsh as to damage his career no matter how inconsequentially.
He was suddenly sitting in front of her. “That isn’t her, Sara. Please stop glaring at our table.”
She frowned. Had she really been glaring? “I don’t want to talk to you. Go away.”
“I’m sorry.” Kazu said, his brown eyes seeking hers from over the top of her laptop. “I - didn’t know you were serious about us. I never meant to hurt you.”
Different though homicide is from murder, victims still end up dying in either case, Sara thought crossly. “If it’s your reputation you’re worrying about, don’t. I have no plans of spreading gossip about you. God knows there’s enough floating around.”
Kazu sighed heavily, his fingers joined on the table before him. “When you’ve forgiven me and need someone to talk to you know how to reach me. In the meantime, I’ll leave. I don’t think I’m doing your work any good.”
She had not, in fact, managed to write anything sensible in the past fifteen minutes. But she did not bother telling him this.
When Human Kokeshi finally came out of the toilet - she carried with her a strong smell of jasmine - she and Kazu went out into the street. If she found his mercurial preferences in coffee shops bizarre, she didn’t seem particularly affected by it. Kazu had jammed a cap into his hair. When they had still been dating, it had always amused Sara how he seemed to think it made any difference to the paparazzi, who could definitely still recognize him through his halfhearted disguise.
In spite of herself, Sara watched Kazu and the girl hail a taxi and be carried off away. She couldn’t help it. A steady stream of tears fell from the corners of her eyes and into her half-empty coffee mug. The pain in her chest was so horrible that she completely abandoned all thought of being a functional adult in the middle of a public space.
People were starting to stare. But Sara, wiping her nose on the tough tissues of the shop, already had an excuse in her head. Should anyway ask, she would tell them she was only severely affected that the female protagonist of her script would have to die of pneumonia after having been out in a snowstorm to beg for her lover’s forgiveness.
Because kill the hapless character out of sheer malice and misery Sara would.
To all the girls they loved before.
Disclaimer
The mastermind behind this plot derives no material profit from it. While several people, places, and events exist in reality, everything that follows should be digested with a healthy dose of suspicion.
Warning/Rating
I cannot write bromance or erotica to save my life.
Words 1004
Broken Vow
Sara froze in horror as their eyes met.
She had seen him enter the cafe some ten minutes ago, accompanied by an attractive girl she could only assume was his new girlfriend. In an instant, Sara had raised the menu to cover herself. Meeting him again like this only weeks after their relationship had ended was not her ideal closure. Meeting him again like this - he obvious having moved on and she drinking coffee alone while working on a script she was planning for a winter drama - it didn’t seem fair.
More importantly, she had done nothing wrong. It was he who had gone back on his word, he who had cheated. She had been happily minding her own affairs, thinking that nothing was wrong and floating on her pathetic cloud nine when all of a sudden the rug had been pulled under her. Someone had told someone who had told her that he had been sighted with a young model from yet another glossy rag.
But Kazu had always struck her as someone who had a genuine fear of commitment so she should have known they would part ways badly.
Sara had been successful at keeping herself hidden behind her mountain of work when one of the waitresses broke a glass that promptly distracted her. She had instinctively looked up from typing the third version of a particularly difficult sentence when he glanced up at the exact same moment. Their eyes met. Sara frowned irritably and looked away, trying to get a move on with her work. The male protagonist in her script said, I don’t want this to be a fucking movie.
I don’t want this to be a fucking movie!!! Sara took her anger out on her unfortunate keyboard. So let’s talk this over calmly - just the two of us.
She buried her face in her hands, confused if she was writing a drama script or the story of her life.
After Kazu had confirmed that he had, in fact, been seeing someone else on the side, Sara instantly cut all ties with him and armed her playlist with a battalion of breakup songs. What the point of listening to verbalized heartache was Sara wasn’t too sure, although it seemed oddly comforting to have incomprehensible Western wail-fests in the background while she dug into her tubs of mint chocolate ice cream. The idea for her new project had come after she had heard the song It’s All Coming Back to Me Now and she was halfway through her fourth bottle of beer. Back then she couldn’t understand all of the lyrics, but Celine Dion had seemed so angry she felt compelled to look up the meaning of the words when she was finally sober.
And so she now had a new story for the winter season. The station would be pleased. She had no friends, no boyfriend and technically no money, but she had an ouchy, icy breakup story that was great for the winter chill. She was determined to drag TV viewers down with her in her downward-spiraling pit of despair.
Kazu’s pretty companion walked past her on the way to the toilet. She looked like a human kokeshi doll with her elegant bob, pale skin and large eyes, and all at once the shame at having been dumped for someone lovelier hit Sara like a train out of control. Still, Human Kokeshi didn’t seem to know her date’s ex-girlfriend was there in the same café. Vaguely, Sara contemplated making a scene - a plan that was abandoned quickly. Angry though she was at Kazu, she wasn’t so harsh as to damage his career no matter how inconsequentially.
He was suddenly sitting in front of her. “That isn’t her, Sara. Please stop glaring at our table.”
She frowned. Had she really been glaring? “I don’t want to talk to you. Go away.”
“I’m sorry.” Kazu said, his brown eyes seeking hers from over the top of her laptop. “I - didn’t know you were serious about us. I never meant to hurt you.”
Different though homicide is from murder, victims still end up dying in either case, Sara thought crossly. “If it’s your reputation you’re worrying about, don’t. I have no plans of spreading gossip about you. God knows there’s enough floating around.”
Kazu sighed heavily, his fingers joined on the table before him. “When you’ve forgiven me and need someone to talk to you know how to reach me. In the meantime, I’ll leave. I don’t think I’m doing your work any good.”
She had not, in fact, managed to write anything sensible in the past fifteen minutes. But she did not bother telling him this.
When Human Kokeshi finally came out of the toilet - she carried with her a strong smell of jasmine - she and Kazu went out into the street. If she found his mercurial preferences in coffee shops bizarre, she didn’t seem particularly affected by it. Kazu had jammed a cap into his hair. When they had still been dating, it had always amused Sara how he seemed to think it made any difference to the paparazzi, who could definitely still recognize him through his halfhearted disguise.
In spite of herself, Sara watched Kazu and the girl hail a taxi and be carried off away. She couldn’t help it. A steady stream of tears fell from the corners of her eyes and into her half-empty coffee mug. The pain in her chest was so horrible that she completely abandoned all thought of being a functional adult in the middle of a public space.
People were starting to stare. But Sara, wiping her nose on the tough tissues of the shop, already had an excuse in her head. Should anyway ask, she would tell them she was only severely affected that the female protagonist of her script would have to die of pneumonia after having been out in a snowstorm to beg for her lover’s forgiveness.
Because kill the hapless character out of sheer malice and misery Sara would.